Mike Macdonald: "We Can Be So Much Better"

Mike Macdonald (0:01)

It's working.

All righty, everybody ready? Let's do it.

SPEAKER_2 (0:11)

Coach, you've talked a lot about X's and O's, and I'm curious, the team goes 3-0, you're heading into your first prime time game. How much do you talk about and think about mindset in the team and getting them not too far out in front of themselves?

Mike Macdonald (0:26)

I think the tape is going to tell the story. I mean, we're in a great position where we've done enough to win each game that we've played. There's a lot of great stuff on tape, but we're also at the beginning stages of this team and who we're going to become, and the guys know that. It's very clear when you watch the tape where we need to improve, and there's a great opportunity for us to improve. So I think this is, I think the message is, is let's take advantage of this opportunity that we have, that we're able to, we have the opportunity to learn so much about who we are, how we're going to grow, our operation throughout the week, how do we prepare, and we can be so much better. So again, it's so early in the season. We're in a great position. Obviously it's way better than the opposite. And so we're excited about that, but there's a sense of urgency too on where this football team needs to go.

SPEAKER_3 (1:29)

The penalties yesterday, what did you attribute those to?

Mike Macdonald (1:33)

Which ones? I mean, it's kind of both sides, all three phases. Yeah, you can't, I don't know, I don't know the full number, but way too many. You know, we categorize penalties because if you're gonna toe the line and play on the line, then there's gonna be some penalties that you have to be willing to accept to a certain extent. The ones yesterday probably don't fall into that category. So, you know, we'll address those and try to learn from them the best we can. Some of them are decisions that we're making in real time that we can be smarter. Some of them, we're not putting ourselves in position where we can either block or, you know, do whatever our job is and, you know, do it legally. So we're gonna have to be better in those situations.

SPEAKER_4 (2:23)

One on Witherspoon, where he ran all the way across the field to make that play, is it's out of bounds?

Mike Macdonald (2:29)

Oh, when he reversed? Yeah, I haven't talked to Spoon about what we were talking about as a defense. I mean, it's like Spoon's two penalties, three penalties from really the whole season. I think he said three has become, has come from just incredible effort. Those one, we screwed up a cover one against New England. He covered for the other DB and probably could have made a better decision late in the play. But up till the very last tenth of a second, you would have said that was a phenomenal play. Same thing goes for the Waddle screen pass, that reverse course, and the guy's just flying. And, you know, your turn in the corner, it's a clear penalty, but probably could have made a smarter decision, I guess. And then the DPI, that one, I'm taking that one, that's on me, and we'll keep that in house on why, but that one's on me.

SPEAKER_5 (3:30)

Three games in, how do you feel about the state of the guard positions?

SPEAKER_6 (3:32)

It seems like the Dolphins were able to get quite a bit of pressure from the interior yesterday.

Mike Macdonald (3:36)

Yeah, I mean, it's going to be the same answer, you know, until we start fortifying that spot. So it's a week to week thing right now. I think Christian deserves an opportunity to go compete a little bit more. How much so? We'll kind of let the practices decide at this point.

SPEAKER_7 (3:53)

Mike, this morning you talked about lens of preparation was leads to players able to anticipate the play. What do you think your team is in terms of that?

Mike Macdonald (4:04)

Could you kind of elaborate on the question?

SPEAKER_7 (4:05)

I'll give you the context. You were talking about preparation, being able to anticipate, and then it puts players in a position where they can play free. Just wondering, where is your team now? How do you see them in the lens of preparation? How they're doing that?

Mike Macdonald (4:19)

Yeah. There's a good amount of plays that the guys are doing that, and it doesn't come easy. It's a full week's worth of work and preparation to get to that spot. You can't just roll the ball out there and say, hey, I'm just going to go ball out. It's not how it works. These teams are, these offenses are too good, defensive teams are too good out there. So you have to put the work in, the guys realize that.